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Slim Summerville The power went out in South Laguna the other night, a rare occurrence. Rare enough that I was uncertain how to respond. The Beautiful Wife, in succession, turned on her cell phone light, found a battery-powered lantern, and began producing candles from a closet....

In Defense of Committees Committees don’t get a lot of respect. People make jokes about them. Consider, for example, the old saw that a giraffe is a horse designed by a committee. You get the idea. Then there was the “Committee of Five.” An extended group, feeling oppressed,...

Remembering the Cabrillo Laguna’s long-gone Cabrillo Ballroom fascinates me. A century ago romantic dancing—a man and a woman embracing as they moved to music—became popular. It’s sadly now out of style, but it was once part of the Laguna experience. The 1918 Laguna city...

Remembering Dad Last Sunday’s baccalaureate, the religious service that honors our graduating seniors, made a big impression. Held in Laguna Presbyterian Church’s lovely chapel, students read scripture important to them, sang songs of inspiration, and spoke. Seniors Caleb Hardy...

I like books; always have. Invite me into your home and you’ll catch me surveying your library. Among my oddities is an inordinate fondness for storytellers. As a child, my parents subscribed to the “Readers Digest Condensed Books,” which I read avidly. My first year of high...

A Season for Patriots American Legion Post 222 did us proud with their 92nd annual Memorial Day program in Heisler Park. We’re in the season of patriotism, which runs from Memorial Day, through Flag Day on June 14, until the Fourth of July. This coming week marks the Battle of...

Remembering and Honoring This coming Monday is Memorial Day, a day dedicated to honoring those who gave their all for our country. In Laguna, we gather at Heisler Park for Memorial Day—it’s our town’s oldest tradition. (Program starts at 11 a.m. Hint: Come early, bring something...

‘Finding Meaning’ gives me license to worship in all of Laguna’s churches. I was recently at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they prefer to be called (though often referred to as LDS or Mormons). It was a special day because two Laguna boys were reporting on...

Healing Hands Way back in 1775, the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation. Pretty good outcome, don’t you think? In the darkest hours of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called for a day of prayer. Within 10 weeks, the war had...

Excuse Me, Mr. Gallup One of the benefits of hometown newspapers like the Indy is their support of local institutions, including Laguna’s churches. By contrast, the executive editor of the New York Times candidly acknowledged a while back that, “We don’t really get religion.” The...

Famous Physicists in Laguna Each week I scan the horizon for a topic about meaning worthy of 500 words in our beloved Indy. Today, it’s the great (and unconventional) physicist and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman, one of the most interesting of the many interesting characters...

Overwhelming Meaning I did the Palm Sunday marathon, scurrying between Laguna churches as they began their Easter Week. Thanks to a Laguna service starting every half-hour from 7:30 a.m. forward, I got to sample six churches, though not able to enjoy the whole service. It was an...

Palm Sunday I write as the Indy traveling correspondent to little Midway, Utah. It’s a picturesque village high in the Wasatch range of the Rocky Mountains. Swiss emigrants helped settle Midway in the 1860s and the Beautiful Wife, you’ll recall, is half-Swiss. Which half I can’t...

A Walk Through 1920 Laguna Take a walk through the Laguna Beach of a century ago, guided by a dead man. Harold Weaver was an English jockey who emigrated West to become a cowboy, but wound up a landscape artist. If you check the 1920 census, you’ll see he was the enumerator....

Heroes Among Us Was there a high school teacher who made a difference in your life? One you wish you could have given an award to? I remember two, and it’s a personal regret that I never acknowledged them. That problem has been solved in local high schools with the Crystal Apple...